But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. (Micah 5:2 ESV)
The God of the Scripture is a God of the details. This truth is clearly evident from the earliest pages of Genesis to the final verses of the Old Testament. God in His omniscience (the attribute of God that means He is all knowing), clearly inspired the writers of Holy Writ to include vivid details about His promised Messiah.
Some of these details we’ve already talked about during the first five days of our devotion. God’s Redeemer would be of the seed of Eve and would crush the head of the Serpent. In this detail we learn from the first gospel (protoevangelium) that the Messiah would be both a human and destroy the works of Satan. This was accomplished through the birth, perfect and sinless life, atoning death, and resurrection of Christ.
We were reminded that God’s promised One would be a biological son of Abraham by whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. The Scripture again revealed that the Christ would be the true King of Israel and would rule on the throne of His biological grandfather David. Yesterday we looked at the promise that the Redeemer would be born of a virgin. Today, we are told even the city of the Messiah’s birth.
If it weren’t for the Scriptures and the incredible birth of Jesus Christ, Bethlehem as a city would have likely been lost to history. This small ancient town is roughly five miles from Jerusalem and was near where the sacrificial sheep for the Temple were raised. A quick Google search reveals that the Bethlehem of Jesus’ day had fewer than 1,000 native residents. It was a small, sleepy, seemingly insignificant town. What a picture of the God we serve! The God we serve uses the seemingly small, insignificant people and things to accomplish His incredible, eternal, blessed will and plan.
The city and the clan that called the city home would one day see God do something incredible, unimaginable in the city and through the tribe of Judah. Jesus, not just “a king” but the King of kings and Lord of lords, when the “fullness of time had come” (just the right time, see Galatians 5:4-5), entered into the virgin’s womb to both reveal the heart of God and rescue the souls of men. Everything about His birth, even the lowly virgin Mary and her betrothed husband Joseph, were examples of a mighty God using the seemingly small and insignificant to accomplish His perfect will.
Today, Bethlehem is a place of pilgrimage for countless Christians. Then, the cries of the newborn baby Christ would echo in the cave stable where He begun the incarnation rescue mission. The last half of Micah 5:2 reminds us that the coming of the promised King was a matter of promise and history.
This morning I pray you will stop for a moment and understand the beauty of the implications of what God has done and who and what He has used to do it. Perhaps you feel small, insignificant, from a family of nobodies, and from nothing… in the hands of our incredible God, just watch what He can do! Even if no one else ever knows your name, if your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life because you know and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord, you are somebody!
Heavenly Father, thank You for the truth that in Your hands, nothing and no one is insignificant. Thank You for the incredible beauty of Your plan. Because of what you accomplished in and through Christ, the incarnation, and the Christmas story, we know You are a God of the details. Thank You for being sovereign, gracious, and not afraid to elevate and honor those whom others might ignore, ridicule, or reject. Thank You for the beauty and majesty of Your plan of redemption through Jesus Christ our Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
